The Director's Cut: What football teams can teach IT teams

I have recently been working with Woking Football Club. Not quite the World Cup, perhaps, but that doesn't matter. Be it Woking, Arsenal or England the principles are exactly the same.

They come down to this - what do these teams have to do to win a game of football? Stop reading now for a few seconds and think about it.

What exactly does each and every team have to do to win a game of football? They have to score more goals than they let in. End of objective.

Now, how do they achieve this? Again, think about it - how can any team ensure they score more goals than their opponents?

I would say there is only one - summed up brilliantly by a Woking player: "Kick the ball where we want it to go."

That's it then. The most popular game in the world is also one of the most simple, by far. Of course there's being fit and being in the right place at the right time and many other factors. But overall there are only two things you have to get right to win a game of football:

Score more goals than you concede
Kick the ball where you want it to go

So what is it that separates winners from losers? What do champion winning teams do on a consistent basis that others do not?

We can make similar comparisons in our IT world. We have made IT so full of jargon, hype and mystery. It's something so simple, made so complex. What do outstanding IT teams do on a consistent basis that others do not? Think about it and the reasons come flooding:

They speak to and support each other
They believe in themselves and in each other
They have and embrace good leadership
They keep their heads up at all times
They focus 100 per cent on their objective
They respect and help each other
They have pride and passion

In football, we end up with two lists, one with two items on, the other with over 50. Most teams concentrate on the first list - they spend a fortune on physical fitness, on players, on traditional approaches to winning at football. And quite right too as every team needs them.

But there are some teams who do so much more. Not a great many at present but that number will grow. These are the teams that put at the top of their agendas the release of their players' potential, the belief of their team and their relentless focus on only one thing - success.

And so it should be in IT, in our teams and our projects. Think about someone in your team and department who delivers on projects every time. Think about a person who you always call when the going gets tough, in the times of crisis, someone you know who will never let you down.

What skills do they have that you depend on? I'd put money on these things:

Communication
Leadership
Persistence
Inspiration
Motivation
Focus
Action

Now I glance at the project management course flyer to my left. It talks about:

Methodologies
Planning
Spreadsheets
Bar charts
Reporting
Project management meetings

And we wonder why nine out of ten IT projects still fail.

Most fundamentally, the worlds of the World Cup and our own business situations come down to people. From the moment we are born, to the moment we leave this earth, whether we are systems analysts or playing up front for Ireland, we will only ever do something to the best of our ability for one reason, and one reason alone - we want to.

Success is about leadership, inspiration and igniting potential. Have you noticed that a new manager at a club can have a remarkable difference on results? It's like that with our IT departments.

Leadership in Japan must be our number one priority (assuming the players that go can actually play). And leadership in your team must be your number one priority (assuming your people can actually perform).

Your success as a leader, and the deciding factor in this summer's tournament, comes down to one thing above all others:

Yes, you are there for your company or for your country. Yes, you are there for yourself and your career or to shine as an individual player. But most of all, when you truly achieve, when you keep going and win, you know you are there for each other.

As in Korea and Japan, so in your team, each and every day.

David Taylor is the president of IT directors association Certus and a regular contributor to silicon.com.

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